Hellfury

Chapter 2: Auri

Auri ran for her life for the third time that week. The first two times had not been her fault, she decided. She had left Aedirn behind after finally finding the Nilfgaardian scouts. Foltest had warned her to keep her magic away from Temeria, and to keep her need for revenge out of his court. She'd agreed only because he promised to give her enough coin to get back to Skellige.
Still, the Nilfgaardians kept coming and the coin stayed where it was, in the very very deep pockets of the disgruntled Temerian King.
When she crossed the border from Rivia and into Lyria she'd thought she was safe. She had been wrong. Auri waded across the Yargua early the next morning, carrying a steel sword in one hand and a coin purse in the other. The two Nilfgaardian scouts she'd come upon had called her a whore and threatened to take her head. She had no idea how they had even found her, she left no tracks and she refused to use portals. Whoever was hunting her was clever enough to track them if she used them, and as of right now, being as far away from Nilfgaardians as she could was the plan.

Auri was perfectly happy in having kept her somewhat aching head on her shoulders, the scouts.. not so much.
    'If I were you, I'd leave. Now,' she had said, eyeing them from beneath her green hood.
    'Ain't gonna do that, missy. We have orders to follow,' the biggest one had said, he reeked of stale wine and sweat. She smelled them both before she saw them. The smaller one had just looked her up and down and cleaned his long fingernails with a jeweled dagger.
    'Leave or die. I don't have time for this. I don't care what you want, stay the fuck away from me. I assume you know what happened to the other scouts sent to find me?' she had said and waved a hand toward the pile of discarded weapons, coin purses and armor she'd placed by a rock.
    'They were stupid, we're not,' said the smallest one and attacked.

She had left their heads near their fallen companions. The rusty steel armor they wore had fused onto their skin. Auri had never been a fan of torture, so she severed their heads before she burnt them. Fire magic scared her, yet, the feeling of it made her long for more. She had seen plenty of fire mages consumed by the power and by the end most of them had been soulless husks shaped like humans.

The water reached her knees. It seemed to soothe the burning rage inside her for just a moment. She stopped in the middle of the roaring river, sheathed her sword at her back and groaned. She ran her hands through the cold water and splashed some of it into her face. Her skin hissed. It was the fire, she could stop whenever she wanted to, that wasn't the problem. If she didn't let it out she would burn. The fire would consume her and if she didn't have enough control to stop it it would kill her.

The water soothed the aches and froze her joints. She stepped off the little slippery rock she had been standing on and made her way to the other shore, eager to finally get home. All she had to do was to follow the Yaruga until she reached the sea. She had enough coin to secure her passage back to Ard Skellig and finally leave this blasted Continent behind.
Auri stepped onto the sandy banks and stopped dead in her tracks. She looked to the west, and then the east. She was standing between Scala and the mountains, and she quickly realized her mistake when the wind blew through the copse of trees to her left.
    'Fuck!'

The ghoul came from the woods, jaws reeking of blood and filth. Its massive head appeared between the trunks of two trees and she nearly dropped her coin. Usually, they attacked in packs. Which meant that if she was unlucky she was about to be ripped to pieces by the rest of the pack she hadn't spotted yet. If she was lucky- This was not a day for luck she realized, ghouls preferred to hunt at night, only hunger and desperation drew them from their lairs and into the sun.
The growling monster took a step toward her. She kept her stance and placed her legs apart, trying as best she could to force her weight to even out as she drew her sword. The steel glinted in the rising sun and she prayed to whatever God that would listen that this was not how her life would end.